Saliva testing v urine testing for your Perth business

Do you own a business in Perth? Do you conduct drug testing? If yes, or if you are considering introducing drug testing for your Perth business, you have two main choices – saliva testing or urine testing?

On the face of it, most people would consider the choice not to be all that important. A bit akin on how to get from A to B; it doesn’t really matter as long as you get there. But there are differences between saliva drug testing and urine drug testing and the choice can be important for your results and also how well your employees accept drug testing.

So, what are these differences?

Urine drug testing Perth

We perhaps don’t need to explain how samples are taken for conducting urine drug testing in your Perth workplace. Suffice to say, you need restroom facilities for this type of sampling.

Once a sample is taken, analysis is completed using a test strip or lab reagent, which indicates a change of colour if a drug is present. Generally, this is done in the workplace, as long as all equipment and facilities are available.

If the analysis is completed on-site, results can be obtained reasonably quickly and, most importantly, if a person provides a positive result they can be moved to a safe place.

Saliva drug testing Perth

Collection for saliva drug testing in your Perth workplace is simple. Each employee simply rubs a collection device around the inside of their mouth.

Once the sample is taken, the collection device is placed in a drug testing unit for analysis.

Analysis only takes a few of minutes, so any positive tests can be dealt with immediately.

Which method is best?

This will long be debated, but for us at Integrity Sampling saliva testing simply makes better sense. There are two main reasons for this, the first of which was highlighted by Leanne Cruden, a Senior Lawyer with Ai Group Workplace Lawyers, who “has a particular interest in drug and alcohol management in the workplace”. In an article, Ms Cruden stated that, “there is a choice between urine and oral testing (saliva testing) for drugs and alcohol, with the urine testing generating the greatest degree of opposition, primarily in relation to privacy concerns.”

These privacy concerns, it perhaps goes with saying, are due to the collection of the urine samples. It can be embarrassing and invasive for some, which for saliva testing this isn’t the case.

The other main reason that we believe saliva drug testing is better for your Perth workplace is that the window of detection for urine testing is wider than for saliva testing. In simple terms, what this means is that it’s possible for a person to be in a safe condition to work, but still record a positive result using the urine testing methodology. Saliva drug testing, on the other hand, gives a much truer indication of a person’s ability to perform their job safely.

Have any questions about saliva testing or urine testing? Give Integrity Sampling a call on 1300 SALIVA. Integrity Sampling conducts saliva drug testing in Perth and at 6 additional locations across WA. While we specialise in saliva drug testing methods, we can also conduct urine testing if your workplace requires.

Post navigation

Paul Marshall

Paul is the Owner and Director of Integrity Sampling WA, which has technicians that provides drug and alcohol management services, including drug and alcohol testing, in the Perth area and all regional locations within Western Australia.You can connect with Paul Marshall on LinkedIn